Title

Author

Date of Award

2008

Document Type

Senior Project

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science (BS)

Department

Geological Engineering

First Advisor

Zheng-Wen Zeng

Abstract

This engineering design is to provide a more accurate description of non-Darcy flow at the near wellbore region. Objectives of the research will be to characterize properties of non-Darcy flow and develop accurate descriptions of carbon dioxide (CO2) flow during injection scenarios and oil flow during production. Other objectives will be to define non-Darcy flow criteria from Forchheimer’s number and analyze the amount of energy used by enhanced flow rates through injection and production wells. Methodology used to obtain results will reflect geology, reservoir engineering, and injection and production flow rates. Reservoir simulations will be conducted using Schlumberger’s ECLIPSE software.

Accurate descriptions of CO2 flow in porous media are essential to CO2 enhanced oil recovery and CO2 sequestration. Non-Darcy flow near wellbore areas can influence description of CO2 flow at injection wells and oil flows at production wells. Using ECLIPSE software a model of a three-dimensional black-oil reservoir will simulate patterns of flow at injection and production wells. Considering the non-Darcy effect multiple flow velocities will be analyzed to find optimum efficiency for production of oil and injection of CO2 for sequestration.

Due to inconsistency of the non-Darcy coefficient during injection and production scenarios, whether or not to include the non-Darcy effect in simulation modeling depends upon the amount it contributes to Darcy’s Law. When the non-Darcy effect is greater than 10% it should be considered during simulation.